Oreo Truffle Cupcakes

If you're ever in doubt as to what flavor of cupcakes to make for someone, you can't go wrong with cookies and cream. I've been taking them to parties and giving them as gifts for years and everyone's always raved about them. It seems to be the best all around flavor that pleases any crowd of any age. Now, I've always made a simple version from the tried-and-true 125 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julie Hasson, which is vanilla cake with crushed Oreos mixed in the batter, topped with a soft buttercream with more crushed Oreos. I never thought it was a formula that needed to be improved upon until last week when Inside BruCrew Life posted about her Oreo surprise cupcakes. Her version includes an Oreo cookie base and an Oreo truffle baked into each cupcake made from crushed Oreos and cream cheese. Simple but divine!

I'm not big on using cake mixes or canned frosting so I simply stole her Oreo concept and used a basic vanilla cupcake recipe and my usual cookies and cream frosting from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes. The cookie on the bottom remained crunchy and the truffle filling is a delicious surprise, moist and flavorful and utterly unexpected. I highly recommend these and plan to give some as gifts this Christmas. My only complaint is that the frosting is impossible to pipe because of the cookie chunks, which means I have to go for the more rustic look of spreading it on with a knife. Not as presentable as perfectly piped frosting but just as delicious.

Oreo Truffle Filling
Recipe from Inside BruCrew Life

11 Oreo cookies, finely crushed
2 ounces cream cheese, softened

Blend crushed Oreos and cream cheese until fully mixed. Shape into 1" balls, place on a baking sheet, and refrigerate while making the batter.

Vanilla Cupcakes
Recipe adapted from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julie Hasson

6 Oreo cookies
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup milk

1) Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a muffin pan with 12 paper liners. Cut Oreo cookies in half and place one half in the bottom of each liner, frosting side up, as seen here.
2) In a small bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, and salt.
3) In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together sugar and butter until well combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Alternately beat in flour mixture and milk, making three additions of flour mixture and two of milk, beating until smooth.
4) Fill cupcake liners 1/3 full with batter. Place an Oreo truffle in the center of each and top with more batter until 2/3 full. Bake in preheated oven for 23-26 minutes or until tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched. Cool in pan on rack for ten minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely on rack.

Cookies and Cream Buttercream
Recipe from 125 Best Cupcake Recipes by Julie Hasson

1 1/3 cups confectioner's sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
Pinch of salt
1/3 cup whipping cream, at room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla
4 Oreo cookies, broken into pieces

1) In a small bowl, using an electric mixer on low speed, beat together sugar, butter, and salt until well combined. Increase speed to high, beating until light and fluffy. Add cream and vanilla, beating until frosting is smooth. Add broken cookies, beating until mixed.
2) Spread frosting onto cooled cupcakes with a knife or spatula. Garnish with extra Oreo cookies if you haven't already eaten the rest of the package while waiting for the cupcakes to cool.